[COMMITTEE ON CITATION REFORM AND REVISION (CCRR)] [Basefsky], American Association of Law Libraries (AALL) Newsletter, Vol. 13 September 1981 No. 2 pages 33-34

Stuart Basefsky was the Chair of the Committee on Citation Reform and Revision (CCRR) which was set up at AALL under the Government Documents Special Interest Section.

American Association of Law Libraries (AALL) Newsletter

Vol. 13 September 1981 No. 2 pages 33-34

GOVERNMENT DOCUMENTS SIS.
COMMITTEE ON CITATION REFORM AND REVISION.

The Committee on Citation Reform and Revision (CCRR) is setting up

a national clearinghouse for legal citation. The first project for the

clearinghouse will be a complete critical review of the 13th edition of

A Uniform System of Citation (The Bluebook).

Since no one person is skilled enough to criticize intelligently

every part of the Bluebook, the general membership of the AALL is being

solicited for its cumulative expertise.

The goal is to get individual experts or persons with longstanding

pet peeves to submit their constructive criticisms and suggestions

for improving citations in a systematic and methodical form.

After assembling these reviews, the CCRR will categorize the submitted

material and send it on to the editors of the Bluebook. With these

rational criticisms in hand, the Bluebook editors will be able to make

changes for some citations between printings of this edition or prepare

major reforms for future editions. If the editors do not approve of

the suggestions submitted, their reasons for maintaining their citation

format will have to be justified in the same systematic and methodical

form. In this way, the CCRR hopes to gather a list of citation justifications

for every part of the Bluebook.

All persons interested in submitting criticisms and suggestions

should use the following format to express their ideas.

1. Identify the specific part(s) of the Bluebook that you wish

to criticize. (If you are criticizing the Bluebook because

it lacks something you wish it included, please state that at

the outset; give your reasons; and suggest where it should be

placed in the Bluebook with an example.)

2. State whether you object to the style of the citation or the

content of the citation or both.

3. If you do not object to a citation but to the explanation

that accompanies it or the indexing that leads to it, please

state that at this point.

4. Give the reasons for your objection. Be clear, concise, and

to-the-point. Keep in mind that citations have three functions.

They must (1) identify who or what is the source of

the information being cited; (2) describe the source in a

manner which distinguishes it from other or similar references;

and (3) provide information, in the description, which

will allow a reader to locate the source with relative ease.

When possible, relate your objections to these three concepts.

5. Provide an example of how the citation can be improved. Be

sure to include an explanation of why this version is an

improvement.

Send all statements to 

Stuart Basefsky, Documents Dept.

The D.H. Hill Library

North Carolina State University

Box 5007

Raleigh, NC 27650

(919) 737-3280

Please note: The 13th edition of the Bluebook is scheduled to be

available for distribution on or about September 15th.

With the delays that have already occurred, October

seems the likely month for its appearance.